Is Anyone Here a Doctor
by TurtleTracer
Summary: Baby Leo is sick, very sick. If Splinter is going to help him he is going to need a doctor, and fast! For a recently turned rat-man finding a doctor is easier said than done. *A collection of short stories featuring when each member of this crazy family learned that it was time that they became a "doctor." Starting with Master Splinter.*
1. Chapter 1- Splinter Needs a Doctor 1

**This story will contain multiple smaller tales about each of the main characters in the tmnt 2003 universe. Starting with Master Splinter! In honor of an admittedly very dramatic ending scene for the 2012 series.**

 **These stories will be very different from each other. So don't expect anything! And have fun!**

 **Please read and review! Let me know if you'd like to read more.**

* * *

 **~Splinter Needs a Doctor Part 1~**

Scrapped knees, small cuts, road rash, broken bones, these are all things that one parent could say to another about happening to their little boys, and both would laugh.

….Up top they would laugh. Down here in the cold germ infectious muck of the sewers, Splinter couldn't afford the luxury to laugh anything off.

When the turtles were young and he was new to this intelligence thing tiny Leonardo got a cut on his ankle.

It was a small cut, and the baby was clearly in no more distress than a normal youngling would be in such circumstances.

And so like the rat and caring father he was.

Splinter licked the cut.

….It didn't work. Two days later and the cut had turned from an aggravating red color, to a bubbling yellow. Leo went from frantically army crawling along, to lying still in his cardboard bed.

Splinter needed help. He needed a doctor.

But how was he to find such a friend? Splinter thought about this as he tucked his boys in for the night. There was no need to tuck little Leonardo in. He hadn't left his bed all day.

Splinter reached for his very possibly dying little baby, when brief flashes of memory removed his vision. It happened sometimes, rarely, but always with satisfying results. For these memories were information. Precious bits of observations done through his rat self that made no sense to him then, but shaped the world for him now.

For a rat….No, a man, with no answers, these flashes meant everything.

Splinter watched with sightless eyes between the bars of a no longer real cage as a man with kind eyes and a white coat made his way over to one of Yoshi's student. The boy had broken his leg trying to perform a jump kick much too high and advance for his skill level. _'But such is the way of the young_ ,' as his old master Yoshi used to say.

The man in the white coat lived nearby and had just returned from work. He kept the boy calm and breathing until a blinking red car arrived.

This man was a doctor.

Splinter's eyes came back into focus, just in time for him to realize that Michelangelo had just wet his bed.

…Alright clean the baby. And then look for a white coat. A white coat, means a doctor.

Splinter took to the streets that night, confident that he could return before any rashes appear on the precious younglings from sleeping in their own excess. He needed information, needed it so very badly. He didn't know what he was doing. These turtle young were man like. Like himself now. If he didn't find out how to care for Yoshi like young soon, they all were going to die.

…..No….. NO! Never! Splinter refused to give up. A white coat. All he needed was a white coat. And preferably some kind eyes to go with it.

Splinter was knelt on top of a roof looking down at a much emptier shopping plaza than it was just an hour before. Most of the shops were closed. But on the far side of the road one building still had some multicolored lights on, and loud human music playing. That place was still crowded.

Splinter stayed far away from that side of the street. He wanted to enjoy music, he really did. And he had swiped a mobile disc player and set it to play a few swiped discs. But so far the only one of those he'd enjoyed was the disc that played soft serene music.

Anything with a loud beat still made his heart race and his blood pump faster. In other words fear, they still made his body react in fear. Why do humans like to indulge themselves is things that cause their bodies to not calm down, for fun!?

Splinter didn't know, but he was determined to find out one day.

But for now he sat scanning the large chattering crowd near that very loud building from a safe distance. But none of these humans had a white coat, indicating their profession.

In fact these humans seemed to wear less than what Splinter was used to seeing, even despite this chill. No way were these humans doctors.

Splinter's ears twitched as he hears a familiar wail in the distance. In an instant his eyes cloud over and his thoughts stop as another memory takes him over.

* * *

 _"Hear that Splinter?" asked Yoshi as he sat cross legged on the outdoor walkway leading into his dojo. It was an early morning. Before seven as least, for seven was when the first of the most dedicated students for future protectors of the Ultrom arrive to help clean the place up for lessons._

 _Splinter strained his ears and listened from where he rested beside his master. Not because of the words his master said, but because there was something to hear._

 _*REEEEEEEROOOOOREEEEEROOOO*_

 _"That's the sound of an ambulance Splinter," Yoshi explained, "They are mobile cars that take the people to a place where they can get help."_

 _Splinter shook his ears in response._

 _"…. It's a shame Splinter, when humans need help they have a sound. A siren just for them. When the Ultrom need help, when they are hurt, they have no sound. Their pain is silent."_

 _Splinter licked his paws and began rubbing them against his sensitive still twitching ears._

 _Yoshi smiled kindly and absently stroked Splinter's back as he continued. "If their pain must be silent, then I'll be silent with them. No one needs to remember me when I pass. There is no need. For I will be their silent siren, when no one else thinks of them."_

 _Rat Splinter sneezed._

* * *

The world came back into focus for Splinter all at once. And it stayed that way. There was no re-adjusting needed. His mind didn't need to regain its bearings. Splinter knew what was real, and what was simply a memory.

After all, you can't smell in memories.

'That siren helps people! Doctors help people! That siren will lead me to a doctor! That siren helps people!' Splinter chanted this in his head as he raced towards the ever growing noise. And there it was, the ambulance.

It was small and white, with red flashing lights on top. A shape with two lines was painted on the sides of the vehicle. It looked like the shape Yoshi used to make when he blocked with two sticks during practice.

Not stopping his sprint Splinter jumped from the rooftop and landed perfectly several stories below on top of the ambulance. He landed nimbly and almost silently, only his claws scratching the metal surface produced any sort of noise.

The landing hurt his joints more than such maneuvers used to when he was a rat. That was something he was going to have to consider later.

Splinter crouched low on top of the speeding car and pressed his ears into his skull. The loud siren right next to him was hurting his ears and giving him a headache. But this was for the young ones. Anything for the young ones.

The Ambulance raced on through the chilled night air. Down one street, and then another, slowly through a light, and straight into a parking lot. Once in the more human crowded parking lot Splinter jumped from the slowing ambulance. He raced on all fours into a nearby bundle of bushes.

There were only two bushes. But it would have to do.

The ambulance stopped and two men jumped out of both sides. The back was opened and a weird bed holding a man was carried out into the open air. This was all well and good, but what Splinter needed was a whit-

Two men in white coats and blue suits raced out of the doors of the new, slightly smelly, giant building that the ambulance had parked right in front of. The white suited people immediately began running beside the men who were pushing the wheelie bed, Splinter assumed the white coats were simply talking to the other men as everyone raced inside. Didn't seem very productive…But…

…..DOCTORS!

Excited Splinter raced forward and stopped right before he entered the lighted area underneath the entrance to the doctor's home.

….. Now what?

A tiny turtle hand barley strong enough to grip his bony paw raced through his mind.

….I need a doctor.

So Splinter sat and waited. Once and awhile he wondered off to try a window. But all of the windows were more secured than any window Splinter had ever tried in his life. So most of the time was spent waiting in his bushes.

…His younglings might have woken up by now, needing food or a cleaning. And he wasn't there.

But neither would baby Leo be if he didn't get a doctor. Or at least doctor stuff, doctor information.

It was a good three hours later before another white coat finally stepped out of the building. It was a lady. With more fat one her than needed. Bad for movement, but good for winter.

…. Not that humans have to worry about that.

She takes her coat off, folds it nicely, and stuffs it uncaringly into her leather bag. Her hair is tied back but still very puffy. Her skin is darker than most the other humans, and much darker than Yoshi's. But that's for the best. It was always easy to see Yoshi at night.

…. A doctor.

The lady walks into the darkness of the parking lot. She B-lines it for a line of cars close by with yellow paint separating the cars instead of white.

Splinter follows close behind.

She makes it to a small, but very shiny, silver car and takes out her keys from that huge leather bag. The keys jingled in her hands, the sound makes Splinter pause, that familiar surge of fear that he can't seem to get rid of ripples through his body.

He gets closer.

The woman squints her large dark eyes at her car window. Splinter ponders why for a moment, before he makes out his fuzzy reflection in the tinted glass.

…Whoops.

The woman reaches into that endless bag of hers with quick reflexes, and Splinter strikes. The woman tries to bring out what looks like a little can, Splinter flicks it away with his tail as his arms move in to grab her wrists. He hears a *Hhisssssss* sound come from the small bottle as it's smacked away.

"So she was trying to spray me," Thought Splinter "like Yoshi did to the cat with that squirt bottle. But I am not a cat. And I am not afraid of water."

Splinter moves in and grabs her face before she can scream for more humans. He uses the one wrist he has trapped to spin her around before he jumps onto her back. He wraps his legs around her protruding waist and rests his thighs on top of her hips. He then let's go of her wrist and moves his remaining paw to her throat, he scratches gently, playfully, along her throat. Just to let her know what he could do.

"Don't move," he whispers into her ear. "I need a doctor. But there are more doctors than just you. So don't move, and walk to where I tell you to."

The woman moves closer to her car and leans Splinter against it like she's resting. She makes a sound between a wine and a grunt as she does this, but she doesn't nod. This doctor doesn't understand yet. Humans have to nod to show they understand.

Splinter tightens his hand around her mouth and her throat. He can feel two of his claws breaking just a bit of skin as they pierce the woman above and below her covered lips.

The woman's breath hitches.

"Nod if you understand me doctor. I need you. But if you don't do what I say I will eat you. And find a new doctor," Splinter whispered, his whiskers tickling the woman's neck.

Splinter wasn't sure if he would really eat her. It would be a good source of protein. Yoshi said all meat was important and full of protein. But this woman was human, and Yoshi was human. And he was supposed to be like a human now, so he didn't want to. That wasn't right for humans. But the woman nodded, so it was ok.

"Good good. You are a good doctor. Now walk to the right, into the dark. We can speak more there."

The woman was shaking, splinter could feel it. And it took him piercing her with the tips of two more of his claws against her neck before she would start moving. But he had done it. He now had a doctor. And she better help his baby.

Or she isn't worth being a doctor. Or even being alive.


	2. Chapter 2- Splinter Needs a Doctor 2

**~Splinter Needs a Doctor Part 2~**

The woman walked slowly in the direction Splinter told her to go. It led underneath a cemented roof where multiple levels of parking were available next to the hospital.

The woman was shaking. Every step she took was wobbly and uncertain. But Splinter knew that was only to be expected. She'd feel better when they were both underneath the cement. Having a roof over his head always calms him down.

In an effort to sooth the human's nerves Splinter began 'petting' her neck. Back and forth he rubbed his fingers across her neck. The head was the ideal place to pet someone. His younglings at home loved it when he did so. But he couldn't completely remove the threat that his claws on such a sensitive area provided. So he settled for her neck.

The petting didn't seem to help. If anything she shook even more when he did so. Splinter sighed, the heat of his breath hitting the back of her prickling neck. She froze for a moment and tried to suck in a gasp of air, but all she ended up doing was suctioning the palm that was over her mouth against her lips like a vacuum. She tasted little bits of hair on the monster's skin as she pushed the hand away from her breathing space with her tongue.

The two of them walked in silence through the night. The doctor once tried to walk a little to the right, into the light of a streetlight, in the hopes of someone seeing her predicament. But one tug of her hair to the left made her obediently walk around the safe glow. Splinter didn't speak as the doctor piggy backed him under the cemented roof of the empty parking garage. The parking garage was closed at this late hour. The lights overhead were out, shadowing the area in almost complete darkness. The doctor's steps began to become more hesitate. Any surety of movement the doctor had regained since the first few shaky ones after Splinter climbed her back had vanished.

'Perhaps she needs some direction,' thought Splinter.

"Walk to that stairwell. I understand that it is supposed to move during daylight hours. Its lack of movement is a good sign for us. A sign of discretion from more of your kind," said Splinter.

The doctor froze in place.

Splinter waited for a generous few moments. He wanted to be understanding. Truly he did. But she really was not moving, and little Leo was still waiting for him. Maybe another nail in her skin would do the trick?

Suddenly Splinters ears shot up and his nose twitched, brushing the doctor's neck with his whiskers. The doctor was licking him? She was swiping her tongue back and forth against his palm. Why was she licking him? She can't possibly like him? After all he did threaten her harm. Why this display of affection? The doctor added to the licks by shaking her head gently from side to side in that way humans do when they want to say 'no.'

No?

Ok so maybe it isn't affection…. What could she…..Ooooooh! Splinter smiled happily as he figured it out and removed his hand from her mouth.

She wished to speak of course. There is no reason she can't. We are quite alone now. And I can always find another doctor if she screams.

The woman gasped taking in the un-sweat smelling air. "I…Haaaaah…can't see you…haaaaaaah…Stupid motherfucker," the doctor said in-between breaths.

Splinter frowned in confusion and looked around himself. He could see just fine. It was dark yes, but not so much to cause trouble with sight. Was this woman blind? Guardian Carmichael back in Japan was blind.

"Oh my, that is troubling," Splinter said, his voice dripping in sympathy. "Are you blind perhaps? Don't worry I shall guide you."

And since it worked so well the first time Splinter pulled the woman's hair in the direction he wished her to move.

The woman yelped but stumbled in that direction. "I am not blind. Don't you sit there getting sarcastic with me just because I can hardly see in this gods forsaken place. Not all of us can be monsters with night vision."

….Oh! Humans can't see well in the dark? Even this dark. Good to know.

"I see," Splinter replied.

"If you are going to kill me just do it! Don't make me walk to my grave. Don't be that cruel," the doctor choked on her words. Her pitch was a little higher, the tone less controlled.

"If you do what I say I won't kill you doctor. As I've said before I need a doctor. You are a doctor," Splinter explained. He didn't want her to be frightened if necessary. After all he didn't like being frightened himself. He doesn't like the way it makes his heart beat faster, or how it forces his breaths to come out as heavy pants. He didn't wish that on this doctor. Doctor's helped people.

The doctor choked on another sob. Then she tripped on an unseeing crack. Sobbed again. Took in another gut full of air, and spoke, "Wh-why? Are you sick?"

"No not me," Splinter answered easily.

"Then why-" the woman said loudly, the beginnings of a shout.

"Hush," Splinter scolded giving her hair a tug. "We are here."

And here they were. The Doctor squinted into the night. And she found herself able to make out the Thick handles of the parking lot's escalator. The metal parts of the moving stairwell glinted just enough in the darkness to act as a personal beacon. The glint was coming from a single light bulb, still left dimly lit, in the security booth near the escalator. The light it generated wasn't enough for fine details, but light was light. And Splinter knew the doctor would need her eyes to work. Splinter maneuvered the doctor to the metal pole then hopped off abruptly. Even as he dropped down Splinter moved his tail so that as soon as he hit the ground it was wrapped tightly around the woman's leg.

Splinter knew his tail was strong. If the doctor tried to run she would trip. It would be very dumb. So Splinter squeezed and squeezed, hoping the pressure would be enough to stop any rebellion from the human. Yoshi always used to say after sparing with one of the higher ranking Ultrom guardians, harsher than what was appropriate, that humans need reminders of the stakes, of their limitations, and of their capabilities. And right now Splinter wanted this weak woman to have a very low opinion of her 'capabilities.'

It was enough. The woman didn't run.

"Sit," Splinter said giving her leg a small tug.

The woman sat slowly, her palm hitting the ground first to help steady her slightly lumbering frame as she plopped herself down with a grunt. She rested her back against the metal pole, just like Splinter had wanted her to. And he didn't even have to tell her to do that! Humans really are such amazing creatures, such quick studies.

Swiftly Splinter undid the rope around his waist. The thin braided binding acted as a good sash to keep the bathrobe Splinter often adorned in place. It was usually tied just loosely enough to keep the front of the robe from falling open. Any more than that and the rope would start to rub at his skin, causing marks and rashes. Splinter grabbed both of the woman's wrists one handed and held them crisscrossed above her head. The previously vocal woman remained silent throughout this process, accepting the inevitability of stopping the monster whose fur she could feel tickling her arms. Splinter tied the woman's wrists to the metal pole to the right of the escalator. He pulled the thin rope tight, knowing far too well that he would be causing rashes for the poor doctor tomorrow. But his youngling was more important, always more important.

"Ow," the woman hissed as Splinter pulled the rope again. "Watch it."

"I am sorry," Splinter replied calmly.

A silence followed.

"Who is sick?" the woman asked in an equally calm voice. The apology made the monster before her seem weaker. The prospect filled her with courage.

Splinter paused, unsure how to explain.

"My baby is sick," he finally said.

"You're baby? There are more of you?" The doctor asked skeptically, eyes narrowing at the impossible rat creature.

"No not of me. Not like me exactly. But yes mine. He is a youngling, but he is too human-like. I do not know how to take care of him at times. To human."

The woman paused, completely silent as she obediently let Splinter finish tying her to the pole. "You're telling me," the woman started speaking evenly, without inflection, "That you have a human baby with you."

Images of cold and alone kidnapped human babies danced through the doctor's mind.

Splinter, unaware of these dancing babes, simply repeated himself. " _Human-like_. It matters not. I must go get him, and bring him to you yes? So you can save him. Or may I just tell you of his ailment? Will that be enough?"

The woman glared up at Splinter as the rat rose to his feet to tower above her, but then her features soften. She tilted her head, pierced her plump lips. "…No," the woman finally whispered, "No I think you should bring this baby to me so I can…. Have a look at him, or her."

Splinter nodded "Yes yes that's for the best. You cannot be allowed to see where we live. Very good idea doctor, I'll bring the young one to you."

It was a simple conversation. The doctor was struck by the sheer simplicity of having a calm conversation with… That! But being able to talk calmly didn't loosen the ropes around her wrists, it didn't stop Splinter's yellow teeth from reflecting the light of that dusty light bulb, and it didn't change the fact that this _thing_ has a human child!

Splinter walked away then, his tail thumping accidentally against her simple black shoes as he turned. The doctor watched her monster leave, noticing with a heavy dread that he was dragging her large trusty purse behind him across the concrete. "And by the way doctor it is a boy," Splinter said dropping the purse after dragging it far from the human's reach, "He has all the…. Parts of a male." Then he disappeared, vanishing into the darkness of the garage.

….That monster had a boy then. A tiny helpless baby boy.

Oh god.

* * *

 _"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"_

The piercing cries of a baby's wail echoed distantly through the abandoned subway tunnel. For weeks now Splinter has been trying his best to limit his running to only two legs, like a human, but upon hearing the needy cry of his youngling Splinter bent on all fours and sprinted.

There were no lights in this tunnel, vague darkened outlines of cracks in the concrete walls dashed by Splinter as he ran. His breaths came out in harsh gasps. The open flaps of his robe whipped at his furry thighs.

He knew he had been gone too long. Far too long. His younglings, his babies!

Splinter skidded around the last bend into his hiding home, his nails scratched harshly against the ground as he made the sharp turn. Inside his hiding home everything looked normal enough, everything was still in place.

His hiding home was small. If Splinter's _people spying_ skills were anything to go by than this area was about as big as the biggest bedrooms in those larger houses outlining the city. The one reserved for the adults of a house. It wasn't a square room though, the walls curved around making the space perfectly circular. Splinter had covered the entire floor in an array of differently colored, stolen, carpets. To a human the colors of the carpets would seem to cascade off the unnatural darkness of the sewers menacingly. But to Splinter it looked like art. His own personal collection. After running out of floor room Splinter had begun to nail his newly acquired carpets to the sewer walls. Making the room look rather bowlish in appearance.

But the carpets were important, Splinter washed each one meticulously. He could smell from the carpets when bugs began to reside in its material, or when a baby's waste ruined the upholstery. Carpet cleaning supplies were frequently used, sanitizing the environment for his turtles. A safe little haven of homely clean health, amongst a sea of grime.

In the center of these carpets rests two little homemade wooden beds. The edges of a sky blue blanket spilled out of the side of one of them. Next to the slightly larger of the two beds sat a plastic child sized treasure chest, a chest which Splinter knew contained everything from a few diapers, to all his youngling's toys.

Splinter bounded over to the smaller of the wooden beds and reached inside for the source of the wailing. He had known immediately after hearing the cry in the tunnels that it was Michelangelo who was distressed. Surprisingly his bedmate Donatello, while awake and staring, was not making a fuss. Although if any baby could sit next to a flailing screaming sibling for who knows how long without joining in the displeasure, it would be Donatello. He was a disturbingly quiet young one.

Splinter shushed and bounced the baby in his arms. He tucked Michelangelo's head into the crock of his neck to both sooth and muffle the sobbing child's cries. After one quick glance at the other wooden bed, holding a still sleeping Raphael and Leonardo, Splinter retreated into the darkness and solidarity of the tunnels.

Michelangelo had an accident. But luckily for Splinter he was wearing a diaper. He was running low on diapers and was now having to put them on two babies at a time based on his best guess on their bowel movements.

Michelangelo, who was prone to bedwetting in the middle of the night, often got a diaper when asleep. And with Leo in his state, he was now the other constant occupier of the second diaper. To Splinter's further relief his rat like night vision revealed no beginning signs of a forming rash on his baby's tail. To many times his younglings tiny little tails had turned red in irritation after Splinter had not made it home in time from foraging to prevent it.

Michelangelo must have recently gone, and then immediately woke up. Splinter walked to one of three neon orange plastic beach buckets filled with clean water near their home, and began washing little Michelangelo with a washcloth.

After he felt clean and satisfied the little turtle began to coo and laugh, trying to grab at the washcloth before it could touch him.

Smiling Splinter wiggled the rag in front of the baby's face, just out of reach of the small boy's grasping fingers. Michelangelo squealed in delight, reaching both hands with fevered anticipation towards the now dirty rag. Splinter let out a chuckle at his little younglings antics before putting the rag in the appropriate 'dirty rag' pile.

Now trying to calm the excited turtle down Splinter walked back into his home calmly, upright and on two legs, like a human.

Donatello was sitting up now, looking at Splinter over the rim of his bed with wide brown eyes. Splinter heard another soft coo, followed by a familiar baby grunt, and looked over to see two more golden eyes peeking over the side of the larger bed.

Splinter's heart dropped into his gut at the implications as all three babies began a chant of babbling coos to get his attention.

Attention, food, the others need to be cleaned, and he still needs to find some time to steal some diapers.

Shakily Splinter made his way over to Raphael to lift him out of his bed first, trusting Donatello to remain silent more than his fussy Raphael. He curled his arm beneath the shelled curved of Raphael's bottom and lifted. He cuddled the two younglings to his chest as he studied the only one of his babies still asleep.

Leo slept like the dead. But he wasn't, Splinter could smell it. But he could also smell that wound. It had not gotten better. Beads of sweat dotted any part of little Leo not covered by a shell. He had kicked his blanket off in the middle of the night, a sign of feeling too hot, and his chubby baby cheeks were flushed a dull grey. Which Splinter soon discovered to be the human version of pink on their skin.

Raphael smacked his father's furry arm and whined.

He was hungry.

Michelangelo kicked his feet, his surprisingly strong legs digging painfully into Splinter's side.

He wants attention.

Donatello made a strange low hum. Splinter looked over at his quietist youngling. Donatello just continued to stare. At this point usually even Donatello would start to protest his 'confinement' to his own bed. But the baby just kept staring at him, as if he knew, as if he was accusing Splinter for still being here, for his brother still being sick.

But that was nonsense Splinter knew. No baby could understand this situation. Perhaps they could be capable of sensing the distress he himself may be giving off, but not to such depth surely. Splinter hoped that Donatello wasn't getting ill either. It would explain the silence.

Still that didn't change another harsh truth. Donatello had dirt covering the entire right side of his face.

He needed a bath.

…..Someday Splinter hoped they would forgive him for this, for all of this. For not knowing what else to do. For not knowing how to take care for them, only how to care about them. Perhaps someday they would forgive him, when they still had a brother.

Splinter gently set a now insistently whining Michelangelo on the floor and turned too little Raphael. Raphael smiled at Splinter, happy for the attention, thinking that he was going to be fed first.

Splinter lifted his free paw and gently turned Raphael's tiny head with the back of his hand against his cheek. Raphael immediately began to squeak and push against the forced motion, but Splinter stayed firm. Splinter felt his way along the fragile jawline of his baby boy's face. Then behind were an ear would be on a human, up and to the left, he pushed two fingers in, he pushed and twisted. Raphael struggled and squeaked again little legs kicking, his bright baby pupils going wide with fright. Then Splinter watched with emotionless eyes as the baby in his arms sagged in his grip, and shut his eyes, asleep, and once again dead to the world.

Splinter replaced Raphael in his crib picked up Michelangelo, who had suddenly gone silent, and repeated the movement. Michelangelo joined his brother in sleep.

Splinter placed Michelangelo inside his crib with Donatello, Splinter reached for Donatello to once again perform the move, but the young babe pulled his arm away from his father and backed up. Splinter froze seeing the distrust in his baby's eyes. But he took a breath, steadied himself, and picked up Donatello. The baby allowed this, staring at Splinter with a trusting silent look. Splinter's hand shook as he worked his way up the unresisting Donatello's jawline. His old master's words echoed through his mind.

 _"Do not do this move often my students, it is not good for them. You can harm someone."_

 _'It's not good for them,'_ not good, and they are only babies. Splinter's hand shook harder. He retracted his paw as a flash of worry rushed through his mind of accidentally cutting Donatello with his unsteady claws. With a choked sob Splinter returned Donatello to his blankets.

"My boy," Splinter said leaning closer to his only still awake, still staring, youngling, "Please, for your father, please do not make a sound. I will be back, sleep my boy. Look after your brothers. I-father loves you."

Donatello blinked.

Splinter tore his gaze away from Donatello, grabbed his feverish baby, and fled back down the tunnel.

He didn't look back.


	3. Chapter 3- Splinter Needs a Doctor 3

**~Splinter Needs a Doctor Part 3~**

Little Leo began fussing after they left the sewer. He whined and started weakly kicking his tiny feet as the foreign feeling of cold clean air tickled his skin.

Splinter had forgotten a blanket.

Splinter pressed his baby against his face as he walked to the back end of the old parking garage, hoping his own warmth could help his young. He rubbed his furry face back and forth and smiled as Leo calmed his cries to soft sniffles. He gripped his father's furry face with a fierce baby grip. His floppy arms following the slow shake of Splinter's head.

The back of the parking garage was nothing but a construction site, with only the skeleton of a future building in the middle of the ugly dirt lot to show the promise of this place. Splinter hopped over an emptied box and an unnaturally bent metal pole, in that order. He didn't need to look up as he moved gracefully through the lot. His nose picked up every hint of metallic change, every nauseating scent of wet cardboard and paper. Splinter didn't need his eyes.

Once the gassy musk of the parking garage entered his nostrils Splinter finally raised his head. Gently prying his face away from his fussy child, Leo didn't complain. With half lidded eyes the baby flopped himself comfortably against his father's shoulder, his energy spent. Splinter laid a paw against the side of Leo's face and under his arms. His brow furrowed at the cold scaly flesh that met his palm.

Leo needed to be warm.

With a shrug Splinter gracefully removed himself of his robe, switching Leo from one hip to the other as he removed himself of each sleeve. The robe was useless as a form of modesty with his sash gone anyways. Splinter wrapped his cold baby in the robe and continued on, alone and under the garage.

Splinter hushed and bounced his youngling as he walked through the darkness of the garage. This made his approach to the still tied doctor anything but sneaky. She watched the darkness sightlessly in Splinter's general direction until the rat walked into the small amount of light that the one light bulb provided.

She eyed the monster, then the bundle in his arms. She eyed everything, took in everything. And tried her damnest not to spend to long looking at the monsters now exposed sex.

"I forgot a blanket," the monster said, causing the Doctor's eyes to snap up with a flush.

"So that's your solution. Real father you are. Don't even have blankets? Wonder that child isn't dead yet!" the Doctor snapped, her embarrassment making her brave.

Splinter's ears dropped to his skull, his shoulders slumped. He sighed as he hugged the bundle closer to himself and walked to her. "He was cold."

"Oh he was, was he? In this weather? What a surprise. And you just _forgot_ a blanket. You know I'll bet he's butt naked under that blanket isn't he? Isn't he!" She said shouting the last part. Yelling at a monster was never smart. But she didn't care. She was cold, hungry, sore from the tips of her numb fingers to the bottom of her hurting armpits. Her arms have been tied above her head for so long she lost track of time, and she was scared. God she was so, so scared.

And this thing caused it!

But Splinter was speechless. His baby was naked after all. Does a shell count? Master Yoshi always had clothes.

Splinter barely heard the Doctor's next cry of "Well!" as another memory took his vision.

 _Splinter laid belly flat on the silk of his master's bedspread. Across the room Yoshi's wife, Tang Shen, brought of series of fine kimonos from the closet. The material was a flurry of colors and pictures as she dropped them across both her arms. She spread her arms wide and turned to the rat sitting obediently on the bed._

 _"_ _Well, Splinter. What do you think? Which one do you like?" Tang Shen asked her voice like a sweet wisp of wind._

 _Splinter yawned._

 _Tang Shen giggled turning away from Splinter and towards a mirror. "Oh don't be like that Splinter. After all it is one of this worlds sad truths that cloths have a meaning. To deny such would be to close ones eyes. Never close your eyes my dear Splinter. Nothing is more important in this world."_

 _She started humming to herself as she placed one kimono in front of her body at a time. Testing to see how it may look upon her gentle curves._

 _Splinter watched the pretty tapestry curiously._

 _A white one with cherry blossoms._

 _A green one with flowing water._

 _A black one with green trees._

 _A red one with white coy fish._

 _Splinter liked the fish one. He liked fish. Master gave him fish to eat. Splinter squeaked once._

 _Tang Shen turned to him with a delighted laugh. "Oh have we chosen wise one?" She teased hugging the red kimono to her. She walked over and pet her rat. "Yes Splinter I agree. Yoshi will love me in this won't he?"_

 _Splinter bit the kimono._

"Did you hear me?!" the Doctor shouted, bringing Splinter out of his musing. Splinter's eyes widened with a snap. He looked at her shame faced.

His children did not have cloths.

"C-cloths are… Important?"

The woman scoffed. "Are cloths important? Animal. Maybe if you didn't leave the poor thing in the dirt he wouldn't be sick in the first place." She turned her head away from Splinter, anger for the little thing in his arms wrenching out all of her empathy. But she watched Splinter approach her with his little bundle out of the corner of her eye. He bent down in front of her and held out his 'baby.'

While Splinter was gone the doctor had been preparing herself for a lot of possibilities that she would face when her monster returned. And so as she leaned forward to look into the makeshift blanket she wouldn't have been surprised had she seen a dead fetus that the crazed monster had just been lugging around, or maybe a baby toy doll, heck she wouldn't have been surprised if she looked and only saw a corn on the cob with a face drawn on it.

She wasn't prepared for this.

It wasn't a rat, it wasn't a human, it wasn't dead, and it wasn't fake.

It looked up at her with dull blue eyes.

It reached for her with green hands.

It gurgled softly, like a normal baby.

"Jeeesus," the woman said awed. It was…. Cute. And gross. Its mouth was too big for its face. And its skin looked scaly and unreal.

"Aaaaaiiieeee." The baby thing said.

….It was cute. But.

"It's not human," the doctor finally said leaning back against her pole.

"No," Splinter agreed "human-like."

Splinter sat down crossed legged in front of the woman with Leo resting across his lap. The woman stared. Her Doctor eyes observed the face of the…thing. She had to squint but it looked like the color around the things cheeks were darker. Perhaps a sign of sickness, and if this thing really was 'human-like' than it wasn't moving much for a baby. Wasn't moving much at all.

She watched as Splinter began un-wrapping his baby under the squtantous eyes of the doctor. "H-hell," she sighed still gawking at the infant. "Hell I….I can't, I mean, how hell am I supposed to treat that? It's not humans. Do you not understand that? It's enzymes, it's cycles, it's proteins. They're all different! It isn't something that I can just-"

"Human pets, I do believe, often can take human medicine as well, in smaller doses," Splinter interrupted.

The woman huffed, squirming her wide bottom back and forth across the concrete as she tried again to pull off her ropes. She gave up glaring at Splinter, "Not as true as you think buddy! Dogs are too sensitive to our over the counter medication. But so what? You just expect me to have this stuff in my bag? Well tough I don't. Sorry tough guy but I can't help yo-"

"I wouldn't finish that sentence doctor," Splinter said calmly, now holding a robeless Leo to his hip. "I have no need for a doctor who does not help people. And if I have no need of you, then I'll still be needing another doctor. And another. Someone is helping my boy. It can be you. Or it can be someone sitting on what's left of you."

….The doctor barely dared to breath, "Threats huh. Y-you think you're actually going to get anywhere with threats. You need us. No one needs you!"

Splinter tilted his head confused. After all he really had thought that threat would work. It was a good one was it not? He really didn't want to eat the woman. He would just kill her. But all that wasted meat….

…. No he didn't want to do any of that. He was trying to be more human. More human, for his boys. Humans don't want to do that, and neither does he. But she must help.

"Doctor," Splinter said gripping his growingly limp son under his armpits. "Please look at his wound." With that said Splinter lifted his youngling up and into the Doctors line of sight.

Within biting distance.

If this doctor wanted to she could bite his baby. Every instinct he had screamed for him to pull back. To keep his sick one away from the threat, but he held firm.

Leo, upon losing his last source of heat, wobbled his lip for a moment before bursting into halfhearted tears, his cries sounding more like upset moans than a healthy babies fearful screams.

The doctor looked, how could she not? And the wound was a sight. It was a patch of yellow. Perhaps that was a good color on this turtle. But from his sickness she found it safe for her to assume that the yellow must mean the same thing as on a human. The yellow gunk didn't ooze but glimmered, its sheen reflecting the light. While the surrounding skin was an aggravated red.

…This baby is sick. A sick baby. Just a baby.

….It isn't human.

"You will die if you don't help him," Splinter reminded the woman, since she seemed to be lost within herself.

The doctor blinked, looking away from the still squirming Leo to Splinter. She glared, "Well when you put it that way," the woman snapped, using her heels to push her butt up against the pole. "Now are you stupid? Wrap the thing up again! Giving it its death of cold."

Splinter froze, unsure about this new approach, or if her attitude was a good thing?

"Put him in a blanket NOW!" The suddenly very big, very angry, woman screamed.

Splinter jumped back frightened from being yelled at. He scrambled for his dropped robe and swiftly wrapped his youngling in its warmth.

"Now untie me," The doctor demanded. Splinter looked at her questioningly. "Don't you give me that look! How on god's green earth am I supposed to help that thing if I'm tied up? What you think I'm out running you?" The woman snorted, "You ain't that stupid. Now untie me and grab my bag. Take out what I tell you." Splinter didn't move. "C'mon now, move your furry ass!"

Splinter rushed forward cradling Leo in one arm and slashed at the woman's bonds. The makeshift rope fell onto the woman's puffy black hair. She huffed and batted at a piece of broken material that floated gracefully over her eye.

She waited where the monster left her as Splinter raced over and started dragged the Doctor's bag back towards her, with his tail, not wanting to let go of his youngling with the human loose.

"Good. Now there's a first aid kit in the front pocket. Take it out." The woman said her voice still clipped and firm.

'A first aid kit?' Splinter thought to himself. 'What is that? Something for healing certainly. But a kit? Isn't that a baby fox? Oh no no, Tang Shen had a sewing kit. A kit must mean a bundle of something. So a bundle of healing supplies. Good good. Now…. Which way is the front?'

Splinter turned the bag this way and that. Both sides had a pocket, but one pocket was bigger than the other. And one was a clip while the other was one of those connector machines used for pants. But which one was the _front_?

The doctor watched Splinter, slightly amused for a few seconds as her tormentor struggled. But that amusement turned into irritation, and that irritation turned into anger. Especially since that damn thing hasn't stopped crying!

"It's the bigger pocket you dumb buffoon!" She shouted over the crying. Her shouts did not quiet the turtle.

Splinter obeyed immediately, more relieved over this discovery of what the _front_ was than her tone. He opened the bag and found a square white box, but it wasn't a good square. It was a bad square, the kind with one end longer than the other. What were those called again? Splinter shrugged and handed the box to the woman with his tail. At least that could afford to be bitten.

The woman didn't bite him. She snatched the first aid kit. Repressing a shudder at even accidentally touching that rat creature again. She looked at the baby being bounced and hushed in the rat's arms, then back to her supplies.

It wasn't much. It wasn't enough.

She could clean it she knew. She wasn't a fan of working with children, and she had never worked on a baby before. But she could clean it. Maybe stitch it if the infection isn't too bad. But the baby would have to be awake through the whole thing. And that was dangerous. It could go into shock. It could be too much for it. It would be fine if the wound wasn't a raging infectious mess. But it was. And this will hurt it bad.

…..Oh whatever it won't survive anyways. She could clean this thing. Make it look like she did all she could. The monster would never know. It would be all she could do here after all. The turtle will die, she'll buy a gun. And next time she sees this monster no one will ever have to worry about the creature again!

 _Yurikago no uta o, Kanariya ga utau yo. Nenneko Nenneko, Nenneko yooooo._

…It's singing.

 _Yurikago no ue ni, Biwa no mi ga yureru yo. Nenneko Nenneko, Nenneko yo._

She didn't know this language. But oh she knew music. She used to get encores at karaoke with her sisters. Loud drunken enamored encores.

This was music. It had rhyme. A beat….

"Damn it!" She shouted smacking the palm of her hand against her first aid kit. Just as little Leo was about to calm down the loud noise startled him back into whines again. Splinter's ears stood at attention.

"Damn it Damn it DAMN IT!" the doctor continued, shouting and smacking, tears threatening her eyes. In a flash Splinter was there holding her wrist in a tight grip, his wet muzzle inches from her face.

"Stop. It." Splinter growled.

She stopped. "Get off me." She said weakly pulling her wrist from Splinter.

He let go?...…Fine.

"Fine," she whispered, whipping her fingers across her wet eyes. "Just fine. If I'm going to do this I'm going to need you to get something. Or he doesn't have a chance."

"Anything," Splinter said with so much relief his voice the Doctor could choke on it.

She took a deep breath, "But first. What's his name?" She gestured to the tiny turtle.

Splinter looked down at Leo, who was once again slowing his weak cries to soft whines, and then smiled up at her. "Leonardo."

"Leonardo….." The doctor said slowly. "…. And yours?"

"….Splinter….. May I know yours?"

The doctor hesitated.

"May I have the honor of knowing the name of the doctor that is going to save my son?" Splinter tried again.

She laughed, a grating loud happy chortle, "What a flirt…."

"A flirt?" Splinter tilted his head.

"…Bianca…. It's Bianca."


	4. Chapter 4-Splinter Needs a Doctor 4

**~Splinter Needs a Doctor Part 4~**

Bianca rubbed the top of baby Leo's bald scalp. All of his scaly skin was rougher than a humans, but the top of his head seemed to be a tad smoother. She traced her fingers gently down the baby's face, across his shoulder, and down his arm. All while holding the tiny turtle so that his shell curved into the crook of her arm. She gripped the turtle's fragile green elbow. Pressing her thumb just enough into the very human like soft inner portion to feel a heartbeat. She closed her eyes and felt the turtle's pulse. There was no need to actually do this. She had checked the small things pulse multiple times now. Had touched every portion of the turtle not covered by his blanket, from his toes to his nonexistent nose.

When Splinter first asked her what she was doing she said she was checking him over, trying to diagnose symptoms of the illness. Either the rat didn't know what 'symptoms' meant, or he actually believed her, she couldn't tell. In reality she just wanted to keep touching this…..thing.

Once the initial disgust wore off that this thing was something…different, something unique. She felt the familiar drive of curiosity fuel her. The same curiosity that got her through the hell that is medical school all those years ago, and through the darker pits of hell that is internships in the years after med school. And as a bonus it was too young to have developed those annoying physiological issues that all strange people seem to get about anyone treating them different or calling attention to them.

Oh she was so happy that she decided not to become a psychiatrist. She just did not have the empathy for that.

But… The turtle was sick….. No help for it then. She did need to sleep at night after all. She stopped her rubbing and reached into the now opened medical kit beside her. She took out her portable ice pack. A squishy blue pack that she has found herself using often on hot days spent in her office. She laid the now sleeping turtle in her lap and began crushing the pack. The chemicals inside worked their usual magic and turned the pack from warm to ice cold in moments. Expertly Bianca shrugged out of her lab coat, never letting go of the cold icepack. She wrapped Leo in her lab coat before gently pressing the pack on top of the baby's head.

She sighed, now for the hard part.

"Splinter I need you to get something."

Splinter, who had been watching his child intently the entire time after the human doctor's little outburst earlier, twitched his ears and finally meet her eyes. "Yes, as you have said before. And my answer has not changed. I will gather anything you require."

'I know,' Bianca thought bitterly to herself. 'That's what I'm worried about you waste on society.'

"Well good," is what Bianca said grittily out loud, her anger moving to the surface in her shame, "Then I need you to find a pharmacy and take….. borrow….. Oh for heaven's sake STEAL some antibiotics from the back! There is a pharmacy right over there on Anderson." Bianca pointed violently into the darkness in the general direction of a far off street. "Can you read? No? Figures," Bianca continued with an indignant sniff. "See the sign will be red and-"

"I can read," Splinter calmly informed her.

Bianca paused, taking that in "you can?"

"It is… A work in progression. But yes I can read. Yoshi was fond of reading, and often showed me his books in the dark hours of the night."

"Yoshi?"

"No one important," Splinter said waving off her curiosity. "I cannot read well. But easy signs are no problem. I can break into this… Pharmacy."

"Yeah I bet you can," Bianca grumbled, but she continued regardless, "Ok. You're looking for a sign that says _pharmacy_ under the main name of the store, once inside there will be another sign above you that says _pharmacy_ again. Follow this sign, under it will be a white counter. It may have bars over the opening above the counter at this time of night. This Pharmacy isn't open twenty four seven after all. There may be a side door you can break into. If you can't break through the door than I guess you'll just have to get creative to get past those bars. Once you're behind the counter there will be another door on the right. This will carry the majority of the medication. It's in alphabetical order and separated by type. This antibiotic will be close to the door you will enter so that's good. The drug you're looking for is called _cephalexin._ Got that? The box will be blue and it will start with c-e-p-h. I'll say it again rat, c-e-p-h-a-l-e-x-i-n."

"I got it," Splinter replied. But he didn't make a move to leave. And Bianca wasn't dumb. She knew why.

She sighed tiredly shifting Leo absent mindedly in her lap, "Look this has to happen. He needs those drugs fast and I need to treat him. So spit it out. What do you need to do to me to make you comfortable enough to skat? I promise not to run, I promise not to call. I'm gonna help, I won't like it. And I make no promises after. But I'm gonna give it a go. So hurry your furry self-up. We're on a schedule."

'Just pretend he's a nurse,' Bianca told herself. Now those she was used to ordering around.

Splinter shuffled his feet, his ears flicked back and forth in irritation. But not anger. Bianca's attitude did not reach his rat mind. All he knew was it was not the kind calm words of his Master Yoshi, or the beautiful Tang Shin. No his ears danced with the irritation of indecision.

….But his youngling is to die anyways if this does not work out. What has he to lose? One look at Leo gurgling and swinging his fist around as if at an invisible foe told him a great many things he had to lose.

"I shall leave you and get this medicine. No restraints," Splinter said much to Bianca's surprise. She supposed that he had brought no restraints to use on her in the first place, so maybe he didn't really have a choice. "But I will tell you this," Splinter continued.

Bianca resisted the urge to roll her eyes, _sheesh_ the rat could only threaten her so many times.

"If you call anyone. If you run. If you take my young or harm him in any way that is not nessiccariy for his very survival while I am away I will hunt you down. You will not live the year. I will find you and tie you to a chair. There I will scratch out each one of your finger nails. Then I will tear the hair from your scalp. Your tounge and eyes will be next. And I won't stop. Every finger will be bitten off, every skin scraped from your body. I will kill you like that. And you're police won't stop me. I have had the authorities called on me before. They will not find me. Not in time to save you."

Bianca gulped. Ok maybe he could still threaten her.

"But," Splinter said softer now, "Please save him. You who is human and can walk in the light. Can read with such beautiful advantages such as not needing a flashlight. I will try to pay back this kindness…. Someday. Don't make me kill you Bianca. It will hurt me to do it."

Ofcourse that's when Splinter decided to turn and run. And fear beat both their hearts as he disappeared into the darkness of the garage.

* * *

It was easier to breath with Splinter gone. Bianca took a grateful gasp of air. She rubbed the little turtles head once more. She heard a small coo and looked down at the awoken child. He looked up at her sleepily, having been woken from his seconds long slumber in a peaceful way.

Bianca didn't actually know if the antibiotics would hurt or harm this turtle. But it took a woman with a stronger heart than hers to look into those dark blue baby eyes and hope that it wouldn't work. The antibiotics she sent Splinter after were low-end. Ones used for everything from strep throat to pneumonia. It was a simple drug, that even dogs have been known to digest, and possibly benefit, by their results. And it was often the go-to one for skin infections, bacterial or otherwise.

Normally an infection like this would require a stronger form of antibiotic. But the chances of bodily rejection were too great. A simple drug was needed. The problem was the dosage, not the drug itself. She'd have to guess the right dosage based on logical observation. Not a comforting situation.

But for now, the wound… She must see to the wound.

….This was not going to be pleasant. And this baby would not be smiling for long. She knew that she had stalled and waited long enough. The rat was gone, and wouldn't be able to see what she was about to do to his child. The pain she was about to inflict.

Bianca looked up and out into the darkness as little Leo began gnawing lazily on her thick lab coat. She thought about running away. About leaving the child here and just buying that gun she had thought about. A small simple pistol with a kick is what she would need.

"Da da da da da," the turtle babbled.

…..Shiiiiit. Guess she was doing this.

Oh well, the gun laws in New York are crazy anyways. She didn't want to deal with the hassle. "Alright you little monster," Bianca said shifting the child so she could gently pull his injured leg out from under her coat and the rat's robe.

The effect was immediate. Leo went from his happy baby talk to crying and screaming in a matter of seconds. Her pulling on his _owie_ leg hurt him. He tried pulling his leg back, he tried wiggling, nothing worked.

Bianca hushed him softly as she reached for the disinfectant, but she knew it was pointless to try and calm the baby down. So she tried to do it fast. Really she did. But this had to be thorough. She grasped the wound with her hand and pouring the disinfectant. Then she pinched the wound, sometimes spreading the cut apart to let the disinfectant reach every inch of the infected area. At first yellow puss seeped out of the cuts edges, a side effect of the infection. But as she pinched the puss bleed out less and less.

And Leo screamed.

She poured the disinfectant all over the wound. And still Leo screamed. His arms and head were now involved with the thrashing. And with no safe baby medication on hand, and none Bianca was willing to risk on the mutant, there was nothing she could do to lessen the pain.

Bianca was eventually reduced to pressing her knees together to try and keep the upper body of the baby from moving around. But Leo still tried prying and kicking at her with his one free leg.

The wound really needed stitches. But she wouldn't dare do it with the raging infection. No need to close whatever this is inside the baby's body. After the final layer of excess puss stained her nice white lab coat she saw it, a strange glint inside the wound. Barely visible in the bad lighting of the parking garage.

Still feigning ignorance to Leo's screams she reached for her pliers and looked back at the wound.

…She needed more light.

With a grunt of effort she lifted her large frame up onto her knees and reached forward. She snatched her purse dragging it closer.

Leo was getting desperate in his struggles now, and it was a wonder to Bianca how the little monster hadn't worn himself out. Expertly Bianca reached into the side pocket of her purse and brought out her phone. With one thumb she ran her digit across her screen and turned on her flashlight. Looking back at the wound she saw it. A teeny tiny itty bitty bit of….metal?

…. No wonder this wound was infected, there is a foreign object in the skin. Bianca sat herself back down and picked up her pliers again. There was only one thing to do.

And Leo continued to scream.

* * *

 _I know that this isn't the easiest thing to read._ _Splinter is threatening, and the doctor isn't the nicest. But being a doctor doesn't make someone nice. In fact it can often have the opposite effect. Not that that's why Bianca isn't nice._ _But no matter, many of the other stories I have planned for this series after Splinter's are much more light hearted. Either way this is what I wrote. I hope everyone continues to enjoy this story and the other ones that I will write in the future, and I'll do my best to improve, thank you!_


	5. Chapter 5- Splinter Needs a Doctor 5

**Please read and review!**

 **~Splinter needs a Doctor Part 5~**

He had to hurry! His son was with a human, with nothing but her word that she would stay put. His young looked so peaceful when he left. But that peace could be bad. It cloud mean being weak. Being dea-

…..No focus!

Focus.

…..focus.

 _Tang Shen let slip another soft giggle. Splinter flicked his ear uncaringly. He had been hearing the quiet laughs from the woman for a while now from his comfortable spot on the cool polished floor of the Hamato family dojo. He didn't mind the laughs. They sounded nice._

 _"_ _Tang Shen! Yoshi! Be silent! Be still! I should not even be having to tell this to adults," an older human grumbled harshly from where he sat lotus style in front of his two owners. This old man was his Yoshi's master, an ancient guardian of the Ultrom who Yoshi always says was famous for his harsh tongue and quick temper. Surly he had to have more wrinkles than skin. The rat could tell. But his yukatas were always smooth, and his teeth always brushed. Both healthy respectable aspects._

 _"_ _Hai Sensei," Tang Shen and Yoshi said parroting each other. Both sat in matching lotus positions in front of the man._

 _Splinter looked up, then back down._

 _"_ _Again! Find your peace!" the man yelled, his voice echoed uncomfortably for Splinter across the empty dojo._

 _…_ _..It was quiet as they…. Meditated. Yes that is what they were doing. Meditating. One of Yoshi's least favorite parts of his day, as he always tells the rat._

 _But splinter likes meditating, he gets to take a nap._

 _One dark brown colored eye peaks open from Yoshi. Another dark orb peaks back from Tang Shen. Yoshi closes his eyes._ _Tang Shen closes hers. But she constantly opens them again into slits, staring untrustingly at her Yoshi. At one point in-between one quick slitted look from Tang Shen and the next a hand shoots up, pointer finger up and the rest closed. The finger reaches Tang Shen just as she opens her eyes for another look._

 _The finger connects gently to the tip of her nose. "boop," whispers Yoshi, low and serious. Tang Shen giggles._

 _The old man's eyes snap open. His anger real and palpable. He slams his hand on the hardwood floor below him. The resulting BAM sends Splinter jumping and scurrying for his owners. He nestles himself against Tang Shen's bottom quivering silently._

 _"_ _I said Focus! You half-witted fools! Focus! It will be the death of someone, mark my words Yoshi. A warrior without focus means only death!"_

 _Yoshi bows and says the expected 'hai sensei' again. But his smirk never leaves._

 _Tang Shen wraps a hand around her body and pets Splinter gently, soothing his shakes. "Oh but wise sensei Yoshi is very focused," she says. The man's wide hard stare turns to her. "He just focuses on different things."_

 _"_ _Silence," the man demands. But Tang Shen doesn't listen. Instead, to his heart racing horror, Tang Shen picks up the troubled rat from behind her. She holds him up like a silent prize. Splinter stays still in her palms, freezing his body and limbs in an attempt to not be noticed by the loud man, even as he stares right at him._

 _"_ _What a difference the result of both your focuses are. Yoshi's made someone laugh," Tang Shen explains._

 _The old man opens his mouth, probably to yell again. But Tang Shen cuts him off. "Oh!" She exclaims eyes wide and innocent. One delicate hand up and opened, resting gently against her lips. "But don't worry wise sensei. Your focus has similar tremendous results. Why just look, you have caused a rat to tremble."_

 _And indeed he had._

 _There was yelling after that. From the old man. And something about Tang Shen being banished from the dojo._

 _She left with a graceful twirl of her toes, holding splinter against her breast. Yoshi didn't follow. Not this time. So Tang Shen lifted Splinter to her lips and softly kissed him instead. Right on his head._

Splinter came back from this memory in a dizzying still moving swirl. He realized too late that he had never stopped running, and ran himself into a dumpster, a large, green, very metal dumpster. Splinter groaned and held his aching head in-between his paws. He had to move. Hitting that dumpster made a clang. The humans will hear. Splinter sprang up again and continued on. Just in time before a female human with wet hair, wrapped in a somehow wetter pink bathrobe, opened her window above him and looked out to see what was to be seen.

She saw nothing.

Splinter dodged down two more alleys before finding what he needed. There was no doubt about it, this building in front of him was this _Pharmacy_. He allowed himself a moment to read the words. Really read the words. He was sure a pharmacy would start with a F, not a P. So that was odd, but the rest of the letters match up to what the word sounds like. And Splinter was well aware that sometimes humans do silly things with their spelling. So yes, this should be it. He made it, the medicine store was just in front of him. Just across this road….

A road! Crossing roads were scary for Splinter. He was exposed, and the metal moving machines were pitiless in their pursuit of endless destinations. But he must. There was no time to turn back and look for another route were he could jump from one high roof to another to cross the street. A human was with his Leonardo!

Splinter shut his eyes and thought of Tang Shen. Of Yoshi. Of focus.  
After all he was actually good at meditation, at focus. Unlike his past owners. For even after all this time Splinter still liked to meditate. Only now he no longer napped.

In…..

And out…..

Breath in….

And out…

Again and again he breathes, reigning in his focus, his patience, his bravery. He meditates and runs. He doesn't stop, he meditates while he runs, and slides. His breathing stays controlled as he rolls under and around lit speeding cars.

He Focuses, all the while thinking of Tang Shen and Yoshi. Of happiness.

Splinter crosses the street without a soul having seen. Not a single car horn goes off. None of the humans slam on their brakes to avoid hitting a poor suicidal black smug in front of them. Splinter was that fast. And he makes it to the back of the Pharmacy just as quick.

Splinter races to the shadowed back door, his sudden self-pride dancing through his heart, raising his confidence. He flicks his tail up to the roof, smashing a human camera system as he passes it. The rat skids to a halt in front of the paint peeling door and kicks it in. Its lock destroys the wood of the door as it was forced passed it and out of place. Splinter slips inside with the letters of the drug the only thing twirling though his thoughts.

* * *

The turtle baby was still crying by the time his rat of a father slinked his filthy self back into the light.

And that wasn't just intentional insult towards the things physical self-deprecation. The rat really was dirty. And he smelled Bianca noted, scrunching in her nose.

Little Leo was now having nothing to do with her. He squalled and squirmed violently in her grasp. And had been for the past few minutes after Bianca finally finished wrapping his ' _owie_ ,' in many many bandages. Hiding her life saving work from the rat under the white shield of gauze. Leo immediately began reaching for Splinter the moment he appeared. He hiccupped and gasped pathetically in his need for comfort. Small broken words in English and Japanese slipped through his trembling lips. _"Chii, chiii! Owie Chi! Owww!"_

Splinter complied to the cries, snatching the child away hissing terribly. He bared his teeth at her, his two bucked ones looking especially pointier than Bianca remembered. One long nail nicked Bianca's hand as the turtle child was taken. Bianca jerked her hand back in instinct to the pain. The rat had never sounded more like an animal than he did now. Bianca held in a panicked choke. It would do her no good here. Bianca decided the best approach was to freeze. Hold her ground. Like a man with a bear.

"Why?" Splinter hissed, rage in his mind.

Bianca sniffed confidently. But still so so frightened. "I had to help him. What did you expect? That I could do this without hurting him? If so you're a fool." And she meant that. She had hoped that the thing would have better sense than this. But what was she expecting from a rat?

Splinter hung his head, his rodent face still scrunched in a scowl. "I don't know what I expected." He admitted softly, as his child's cries pierced the air.

Bianca took that as progress. And purposefully shifted herself into a more relaxed position. "Did you get it?" She asked.

Splinter nodded, hugging the slowly tiring babe to his shoulder. Leo gave one last hiccupped whine of " _Chiiiii_ ," before lessoning his sobs too much quieter tears. "Yes." Without another word Splinter took out a bottle. The bottle was the color of that oh so familiar medical orange, Bianca smiled in approval and Splinter tossed it to her.

Bianca caught it in the air. Blaming the lucky catch on its horribly bright color. With a sigh of exasperation she picked up her phone again from beside her and shined its light on the bottle.

As she studied the small print, checking for doses and doing guess based math in her head, Leo stopped his crying….. Completely.

His sickness forcing him into sleep.

"D-doctor," Splinter said with a stutter. His teeth knocked together in his nerves.

Bianca looked up in surprise, eyes widening at the shown fear in this creature's voice.

"Le-Leonardo. He. Is he ok? He fell asleep. He's peaceful. Bi-bianca?" Splinter continued to ask.

The rat said her name again with another notch of desperation. Not that Bianca was to affected. As a doctor she's heard it all before. It was…..familiar…Dammit it was human.

She sighed. "Rat man, we can only do what we can. Here." She tossed the bottle back to him. Taking comfort in the life saving rattling sound of many pills. "Cut those into quarters. Do you know what that means? Cut one in half, than cut it again. Give him one of those quarters now. And another in the morning. Do so for as many days as it takes for him to be better. Keep him warm, and clean his wound every five hours, except at night. Do you know how to do that?"

"…..I can cut the medicine. But I tried cleaning his wound. I wash him often. I-"

"Do you know what alcohol is?" Biance asked cutting Splinter off.

"….No."

"Hydrogen peroxide?"

"….No."

"…..Salt?

"Um yes," splinter finally said, raising his ears in confusion.

Bianca huffed making another stiff grab for her purse. "Never mind take this," she said taking out a small brown spray bottle. Its label clearly said Hydrogen Peroxide. "Spray that on him every time you change his bandages. Here is also those bandages. And only wash the wound with clean water. Got it? C-l-e-a-n water only. No soap. Make sure he drinks. And eats what he can. He'll throw it up. That's normal. Oh and remember-" And on she continued. Listing what she knew for him to do. And what perhaps a mad rat monster might try to do wrong. She listed and ranted. And Splinter listened.

…..Then he left. He thanked her, and he left.

It took her a week to get past her fear. Her anger. Her humiliation.

It took another few days for her to get over herself and stop cradling bears like they were small, green, and shelled.

It took longer than she liked for her to admit she was worried. Because with little boys, injuries always happen again. And again and again.

She spent the next day typing a small book in size twenty fount. She double spaced every line and used small words meant for the dumb. Detailed pictures littered the pages of the book. And she used her precious lunch hour to laminate the pages and put them in a vanilla folder.

She put the folder in that dark parking lot, right next to the broken escalator, and right beside the glow of a security light.

She took the folder away and put it back every night before she'd leave for home.

One day it was gone, replaced with a crudely drawn picture of a turtle in what must have been a very flattened green crayon. The drawn turtle catastrophe held what looked like a bright orange stick. At the bottom of the crinkled page was a set line of wiggling unreadable letters. But she was sure that first one was a D and that last one was an O. Above the turtle, were most clearly child made art had a sun and maybe some clouds, Bianca noticed that in this picture it was just a smear of ugly grey. A grey sky.

Bianca turned the picture over. On the back of the picture was another message written in crisp black ink, but with still very sloppy handwriting. It read.

 _"_ _Donatello wanted to say thank you. –Splinter"_

Bianca snickered and laughed atrociously.

And somewhere below her feet a rat father held in his paws a prettily laminated book just for him, titled.

 _"_ _How to be your Own Damn Doctor. For Dumb Ass Rats."_


End file.
